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Quick Points: Use Flying Blue's hidden calendar search tool to find better award tickets

Kyle Olsen
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Kyle Olsen is a points and miles reporter at TPG. Since the age of 16, he has been pursuing elite status, visiting 75 countries across six continents. His passion for travel began with his own business which he started at age 13. He is now an expert at maximizing points, miles, and elite status across all major programs.
Jan. 20, 2023
•
3 min read
KLM Boeing 737-800
Quick Points: Use Flying Blue's hidden calendar search tool to find better award tickets
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Air France-KLM Flying Blue has a reputation for having a difficult-to-use award-booking platform. Fortunately, the European loyalty program has made recent progress by squashing its pesky award search glitch and adding complimentary stopovers to its one-way award tickets (when you book over the phone).

Now, you can access the Flying Blue award calendars using a simple trick on Air France's or KLM's website. Geobreezetravel first reported this tip on Instagram.

How to access Flying Blue award calendars

ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Award calendars are extremely helpful for flexible travelers, as they display the various award prices for the entire month. This can help you identify which days have the lowest award rates and, subsequently, when you might choose to travel.

Let's look at a one-way business-class flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in the fall on Air France's or KLM's website.

After logging in to your Flying Blue account, select "Book with Miles." Enter your search criteria, but keep the departure date field empty.

KLM.NL

By leaving the departure date empty, you'll see a calendar view on the next page with the lowest award prices for the next 11 months.

KLM.NL

I toggled over to Nov. 7, which offers one-way business-class flights for 65,000 miles.

KLM.NL

Sure enough, there are two business-class flight options for 65,000 miles — a KLM nonstop to Amsterdam and an Air France flight connecting through Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

By booking the Air France flight with a connection in Paris, you could consider taking a few days in Paris to use the free stopover before continuing to Amsterdam. That effectively gets you two flights for the price of one.

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Related: Chaos at Amsterdam mars an otherwise fantastic business-class flight on KLM's Dreamliner

Bottom line

By leaving the departure date blank on the Air France and KLM websites, you can see an award calendar view for the next 11 months, which can be invaluable for your planning.

Remember, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy points to Flying Blue. This makes Flying Blue miles some of the easiest miles to earn in the U.S.

Featured image by NICOLAS ECONOMOU/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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  • Doesn't make sense if you don't fly Delta
  • SkyMiles aren't the most valuable airline currency
  • Earn 90,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
  • Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your Card. Payment of the government imposed taxes and fees of no more than $80 for roundtrip domestic flights (for itineraries with up to four flight segments) is required. Baggage charges and other restrictions apply. See terms and conditions for details.
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  • New: Card Members get 15% off when using miles to book Award Travel on Delta flights through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Discount not applicable to partner-operated flights or to taxes and fees.
  • Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases and purchases made directly with hotels.
  • Earn 2X Miles at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S., and at U.S. supermarkets.
  • Earn 1X Mile on all other eligible purchases.
  • Enjoy a per-visit rate of $50 per person for Card Members and up to two guests to enter the Delta Sky Club when traveling on a Delta flight.
  • Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® after you apply through any Authorized Enrollment Provider. If approved for Global Entry, at no additional charge, you will receive access to TSA PreCheck.
  • Earn up to 20,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) with Status Boost® per year. After you spend $25,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year, you can earn 10,000 MQMs up to two times per year, getting you closer to Medallion® Status. MQMs are used to determine Medallion® Status and are different than miles you earn toward flights.
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